Declensions
unfinished
Ancient Greek uses declensions that can help validate what you suspect the gender, number and case of a noun, adjective or verbal adjective/participle to be. For example 'The big twisting doll sat on the shelf.'
You can recognize which declension a word is by their ending in the genitive singular form. This is because the genitive form doesn't fluctuate as much as other forms, like nominative, which don't show the stem word (something you need for declensions) as easily unlike genitive.
Table
| Declension | Gender | Genitive ends in... |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | feminine (mostly), masculine | -ης / -ας |
| 2nd | masculine, neuter | -ου |
| 3rd | any gender | -ος / -ως / -ους (varied) |
Great, we can now recognize declensions. But to actually utilize them (in translation), we need another table to show us how exactly a declension can tell us which grammatical case a noun, adjective or participle is.
The stem word for 'η' is 'μáχ-', for 'a' it is 'θεα-'
'η' is for nominative singular forms that end in 'η'. For 'a', it is words that end in 'a'.
Accents not inlcluded
Singular
| Case | η (fem.) | α (fem.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | η μαχη | η θεα | the battle / goddess |
| genitive | της μαχης | της θεας | of the battle / goddess |
| dative | τη μαχη | τη θεα | to the battle / goddess |
| accusative | την μαχην | την θεαν | the battle / goddess |
Plural
| Case | η (fem.) | α (fem.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | αι μαχαι | αι θεαι | the battles / goddesses |
| genitive | των μαχων | των θεων | of the battles / goddesses |
| dative | ταις μαχαις | ταις θεαις | to the battless / goddesses |
| accusative | ταις μαχας | τας θεας | the battles / goddesses |
The stem word for 'ος' is 'θεο-', for 'ον' it is 'τεκν-'
Accents not inlcluded
Singular
| Case | ος (masc.) | ον (neut.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ο θεος | το τεκνον | the god / the kid |
| genitive | του θεου | του τεκνου | of the god / the kid |
| dative | τω θεω | τω τεκνω | to the god / the kid |
| accusative | τον θεον | το τεκνον | the god / kid |
Plural
| Case | ος (masc.) | ον (neut.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | οι θεοι | τα τεκνα | the gods / the kids |
| genitive | των θεων | των τεκνων | of the gods / the kids |
| dative | τοις θεοις | τοις τεκνοις | to the gods / the kids |
| accusative | τους θεους | τα τεκνα | the gods / the kids |
The third declension is irregular
Accents not inlcluded
Singular
| Case | παις (fem.) | πραγμα (neut.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | η παις | το πραγμα | the girl / the thing |
| genitive | της παιδος | του πραγματος | of the girl / the thing |
| dative | τη παιδι | τω πραγματι | to the girl / the thing |
| accusative | την παιδα | το πραγμα | the girl / the thing |
Plural
| Case | παις (fem.) | πραγμα (neut.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | αἱ παιδες | τα πραγματα | the girls / the things |
| genitive | των παιδων | των πραγματων | of the girls / the things |
| dative | ταις παισι(ν) | τοις πραγμασι(ν) | to the girls / the things |
| accusative | τας παιδας | τα πραγματα | the girls / the things |
Get the stem of the 3rd declension
if you're planning on casually translating, this isn't necessary
Finding the stem of the 2nd or 1st declension is easy, you just have to remove the ending (following the first table). But if you want, you can also find the stem of the 3rd declension by finding the genitive singular and removing '-ος' or something similar.
Generally, though, you can just assume that if it's not 1st or 2nd then it's 3rd.